Computers store, share and manipulate digital information that can be replicated accurately and shared widely among many computer systems. Computers share or receive digital information in a variety contexts. For example, digital information can be stored, exchanged and delivered by way of magnetic (floppy diskette) or optical (CD-ROM) storage devices. Computers operating in network environments pass digital information back and forth freely and often in great volume. In fact, more and more content is being delivered in digital form, and more and more digital content is being delivered online over private and public networks, such as Intranets, the Internet and cable TV networks. Wide-spread replication and distribution of digital products supports new methods of digital product manufacturing and distribution. That is, digitally stored items can be copied and distributed electronically outside the traditional methods of product manufacture and distribution.
For a user or client, a digital format allows more sophisticated content, while online delivery improves timeliness and convenience. For a publisher, digital content also reduces delivery costs. Unfortunately, these worthwhile attributes are often outweighed in the minds of publishers by the corresponding disadvantage that online information delivery makes it relatively easy to obtain pristine digital content and to pirate the content at the expense and harm of the publisher. Accordingly, the digital nature of these works, makes it imperative that they be secured against unauthorized copying. With no generation loss and the relative ease with which digital files may be copied and distributed, even a single unprotected copy could spawn a multitude of pirated versions, significantly reducing the demand for authorized copies.
If digital content such as digitized audio tracks, literary works in digital form, or digital images and videos could be securely distributed to consumers, then an entirely new market for these works could be created. For example, rather than purchasing music albums from a local retail outlet, consumers could download the digital data across the Internet and then write this data to their local CD-R, thus creating their own compact disks. Similarly, rather than renting a video tape from a local video retailer, consumers could download the digital version and then play it locally on their computer screens or televisions.
To address this need, Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems have recently been developed to restrict the use of digital files in order to protect the interests of content providers. DRM technologies can control file access (number of views, length of views), as well as the ability to alter, share, copy, print, and save files. These technologies may be contained within the operating system, program software, or in the actual hardware of a device. DRM systems may also be referred to as “Content Management Systems” (CMS), “Content/Copy Protection for Removable Media” (CPRM) or sometimes as “technological measures.”
DRM systems generally use two approaches to securing digital content. The first is containment, in which the content is encrypted so that it can only be accessed by authorized users. The second is marking, in which a watermark or other tag is placed on the digital content as a signal to a user-device that the content is copy-protected. DRM technologies may use one or both of these approaches. In addition to security technology, DRM systems often include technology for packaging, distributing and rendering (e.g., displaying, playing and printing) the digital content.
While DRM standardization is now being pursued by a number of organizations such as the openEBook Forum, the MPEG group, the Internet engineering Task Force and the World Wide Web Consortium, currently there is not a core DRM technology that is widely deployed. Rather, it has been necessary to build end-to-end DRM solutions around component technologies, which make the components not very interoperable. For example, it is generally not possible to take Vendor A's encryption-based packaging technology and integrate it with Vendor B's rendering application.